The Power of the Hips

Andrew gets some air while Olivia med ball cleans.

Our hips are capable of generating more power than any other part of our bodies. From core to extremity, they are responsible for initiating many of the movements we practice daily in CrossFit. The clean and the thruster both are powerful hip movements. The thruster involves a push of the arms, whereas the clean requires a pull with the arms. The powerful opening and closing of the hips is what gives you the power to drive that weight over head in the thruster, or that split second of weightlessness when you are fully extended in the clean, so you can pull under and drive it up. Regardless of whether you are pushing or pulling the weight with your arms, your hips are what is generating the power.

Workout:
5 rounds for time of:

12 hang squat cleans (95 pounds for men, 65 pounds for ladies)
12 ring dips

Oatmeal:
I saw the oatmeal discussion on the comments yesterday and thought I would post my recipe instead of a meal plan today. I have never soaked oatmeal overnight, but it sounds like a really good idea and I’ll have to try it next time as I bet it's way faster. Thanks for that tip Danielle!

Use John McCann's Steel Cut Oatmeal. I get it at Trader Joe's or Shopper's Corner.

Pour 1/2 cup of oatmeal into 2 cups of boiling water and stir. As the oatmeal begins to thicken, turn the heat down to low and let simmer, stirring frequently. About 20 minutes in, when the oatmeal is becoming soft and thick, add vanilla extract and pumpkin spices to taste, 1/2 an apple sliced up, 2/3 of a sliced banana and 1 cup of Pacific brand low fat almond milk. Simmer and stir until it is the consistency you like. The whole thing adds up to about 9 carb blocks. I usually pour it straight into 3 measuring cups to create 3 equal 3 block portions. I eat one portion hot and put the other two into Tupperware after it cools, and then refrigerate. I like to add my fats for the meal on top in the form of toasted pecans pieces from Trader Joe's (6 g of the pecans is 3 blocks of fats at the 1.5 g fat measurement per block), but keep in mind that there are fats in the almond milk (4g per cup) and the eggs if you eat whole eggs on the side as your protein. I like using the almond milk in the oatmeal because I can count it as a carb instead if a protein like in the case of milk. It makes the oatmeal way creamier and sweeter! If you are really craving something sweet, sub raisins for some of the fruit. Check the label for the exact amount as you don’t get very many!

Comments

[DebS]

Thanks for sharing this version as well. It sounds very tasty.

I have a super busy week coming up with graduation (my son) and family coming in to town. If I have any chance of staying on this program I'm going to need to really plan out my meals for the week and make it fail proof. Know of any webtools to create a weekly meal plan and get the shopping list?

[Mallee]

Deb, I think Danielle is working on exactly that. Email me if you need any other info or ideas for meals. Keep things really simple and easy to measure. Steak one night, pork the next, then chicken, fish... If you want to dress things up for the family, make sauces on the side for them. Do veggies on the side and fruit for dessert. Eat leftovers for lunch and always have easy snacks like string cheese, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, apples, strawberries, nuts, avocado, etc on hand. Have a good zone breakfast everyday to start the day off right.

Let me know if you need anything at all! I can help you design meal plans for special days if you want. malleejs@gmail.com

[leif]

On the topic of steel cut oatmeal. We use the Country Choice brand that is also available at Trader Joes, but costs about half as much. Steel cut oats are fairly unprocessed, so it's pretty hard to tell the difference between brand name and generic. The generics don't come in the cool vintagte can, but the lids make pretty good miniature frisbees.